Lucy Punch

Lucy Punch Quick Links

Lucy Punch at the season 2 premiere of Netflix show 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. Based on the children's book series of the same name by Lemony Snicket, the show stars Neil Patrick Harris and Patrick Warburton - New York, New York, United States - Thursday 29th March 2018

Highly respected theatre director Arnold Albertson could not have made more of a mistake when he spends the night with a young and attractive escort named Izzy; now determined to become an actress, she turns up at auditions for his next big Broadway show the following day. To make matters even more awkward, his wife Delta is already cast in the upcoming play and Izzy's remarkable skill leaves him no choice but to take her on to avoid suspicion from the rest of the impressed cast. Unfortunately, it isn't long before Delta's co-star and ex-boyfriend Seth (who happens to still be in love with Delta) finds out about Arnold's brazen infidelity, and with this hanging over him, Arnold has no idea if show will go on if the truth comes out. Izzy is also causing a stir in other people's love lives; her therapist Jane has fallen head over heels for Arnold's playwright Joshua, but he only has eyes for Izzy. Who knew one girl could be so much trouble?

Jennifer Aniston delivers an Oscar-calibre performance in this rather over-worked drama, which tries to emphasise heavy-handed metaphors more than the characters themselves. But it's an involving personal odyssey thanks to Aniston's honest acting, and Daniel Barnz's sensitive direction manages to dodge most of the script's more glaring pitfalls.

Aniston plays Claire, a woman who has been in continual pain, both emotional and physical, following the car accident that claimed the life of her young son. Revelling in her bitter sarcasm, she has alienated her husband (Chris Messina), driven her physiotherapist (Mamie Gummer) to despair and so enraged her therapy leader (Felicity Huffman) that she's been thrown out of the group. The only person who patiently sticks by her side is her maid/assistant Silvana (Adriana Barazza), and she's beginning to waver. Then Nina (Anna Kendrick), a therapy-group member, commits suicide, making Claire question why she's still bothering to be alive. There has to be a spark of hope there, and she decides to stalk Nina's single-dad widower Roy (Sam Worthington) for answers.

While the premise seems to set up the usual story about two damaged souls healing each other, the story thankfully doesn't go down that tired route. Instead, Patrick Tobin's script keeps the interaction prickly and unexpected, even as it layers in so much symbolism that it becomes rather exhausting. Claire's physical scarring is clearly indicative of something deeper, as is her array of cruel defence mechanisms. Thankfully, Aniston plays these scenes with a mixture of black comedy and aching sadness that makes the character thoroughly involving and only slightly likeable. Her interaction with Barraza is the heart of the film, beautifully played because their connection remains mainly unspoken. By contrast, Worthington feels almost superfluous; he sharply matches Aniston's cynicism, but is too nice to register very strongly.

With preparation well underway for his latest Broadway show, director Arnold Albertson (Owen Wilson) heads to New York to begin casting. While there, he has a one-night-stand with a young starlet named Izzy (Imogen Poots). He is then shocked to discover her attending his audition the next day, where she performs alongside his wife Delta (Kathryn Hahn) and performs so well that he has to give her the part. As if that wasn't enough, Abertson's leading man (Rhys Ifans) knows about the affair, and also is in love with Delta. And if THAT wasn't enough, Izzy's therapist Jane (Jennifer Aniston), has fallen in love with the show's playwright Josh (Will Forte), who in turn has fallen in love with Izzy. All that remains, is to find out if the play with succeed with so many forces acing against it.

Claire Bennett is struggling to get through day-to-day life despite her buffet of pills, one-on-one medical support and the Women's Chronic Pain Support Group she regularly attends. She is forced to cope with the heart-breaking break-up of her relationship but becomes deeply obsessed with the suicide of Nina Collins, another woman from the support group. In a bid to learn more about her death and, indeed, her life, she persuades the group leader to pass on Nina's address. It's then she meets her widower Roy with whom she strikes up a significant relationship, with both of them dealing with the loss of a loved one and their own brand of chronic pain. Meanwhile, Claire frequently experiences hallucinations of Nina, who slowly draws her towards normality and, perhaps, a happier life.

When a Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are unable to have children due to a curse, they are advised by a witch (Meryl Streep) to venture into the woods in order to find a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn and a slipper as pure as gold. Along the way, they become intertwined in the stories of 'Jack and the Beanstalk', 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Rapunzel', and 'Cinderella', in this original story based upon Grimm's classic fairy tales.

When a Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are cursed by a witch (Meryl Streep), they discover that they are unable to have children. The couple embark on an adventure into the woods in order to recover the magical objects required to break the spell and allow them to begin a family together. Over the course of their journey, they encounter iconic fairy-tale characters and motifs from stories like Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and Cinderella. They also steadily learn valuable lessons about responsibility and being careful what they wish for.

Take a sneak peak of forthcoming musical fairytale flick 'Into The Woods' in this short featurette, featuring comments from the stellar ensemble cast and crew. Among them are stars Emily Blunt, James Corden, Chris Pine, Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp, as well as director Rob Marshall ('Chicago'), author of the book James Lapine and composer Stephen Sondheim ('Sweeney Todd').

When a Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are cursed by a witch (Meryl Streep), they discover that they are unable to have children. The couple embark on an adventure into the woods in order to recover the magical objects required to break the spell and allow them to begin a family together. Over the course of their journey, they encounter iconic fairy-tale characters and motifs from stories like Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and Cinderella. They also steadily learn valuable lessons about responsibility and being careful what they wish for .

The upcoming television show 'Powers' will debut on the PlayStation Network in December. What's it all about?

There’s no shortage of the Marvel brand anywhere you look these days. All over the television networks with ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,’ plastered on the big screen with X-Men, Spider-Man, and Captain America, and even on your video game consoles with 'LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.' But the ever present Marvel is about to take its presence on the game consoles up a notch: the upcoming television series, 'Powers,' based off Marvel’s Icon imprint comic, is scheduled to make its debut exclusively on the PlayStation Network this December.

Playstation announced 'Powers' at E3

Originally announced in March but further expanded on during Sony’s recent E3 press conference, the consensus within the gaming community of ‘Powers’ on the PlayStation Network seems to be a big “who cares.” It’s not surprising, really, because after all, people didn’t buy their PlayStations for television -- they bought them for games. It makes it even worse that Sony spent a good chunk of that E3 conference discussing what the show was all about when they could have easily said all of the same things in a press release and instead used that time to talk about games people are anticipating. Either way, whether people care or not, everyone with a PlayStation console is going to be able to experience ‘Powers’ themselves, because the first episode will be free for all users. For those subscribed to the PlayStation Plus service, the entire season will be free, but pricing hasn’t been announced yet for those not subscribed.

Frankly, if you put Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin in your movie, you don't really need to worry about the script: we'd happily watch them do just about anything on-screen. And here they sieze every hint of humour, drama and action to keep us entertained and make us care about their characters. Indeed, they maintain their dignity by refusing to give in to the screenplay's lazy old-age jokes and convoluted plot.

The story kicks off when Val (Pacino) gets out of prison after 28 years behind bars. His only remaining friend is Doc (Walken), who lets him stay in his humble apartment. But Val wants to get back in the game, and tries to get Doc to abandon his austere retirement. Then Val learns that Doc is only alive because gangster Claphands (Margolis) is forcing him to kill Val on his release - an act of vengeance against both of them. With nothing to lose, they liberate their dying buddy Hirsch (Arkin) from hospital and decide to go out with a bang.

Screenwriter Haidle seems to want this to be a geriatric Apatow-style comedy, as these men continually talk frankly about their sex lives (including of course a tired Viagra joke). But this is more squirm-inducing than amusing. And director Stevens lets the action set-pieces drag on too long, trying to crank up the energy by giving every scene a madcap spin. But none of this was necessary with these actors: they are geniuses at adding zing to even the most weakly written and directed scenes, keeping us engaged by constantly upstaging each other. They may be past their prime, but they prove that there's plenty of life still in them.